Yes, that’s right. Next year Tyndale House will re-release the series that made many think that God had inspired another testament of the Bible. Seriously, I was youth pastoring for a while and whenever the topic of End Times stuff came up I always ended up getting some wacky questions which I knew was based out of this series (having read them myself). I always had to remind those students not to get their theology from Left Behind.

Apparently they are putting three books into one (which I always hate), and giving these three-in-one volumes titles like Rapture’s Witness and Evil’s Edge. Well, if you are gung ho about these books (which are good reading though terribly wrong), then you should check out this article from Christian Retailing that details the release dates and prices.

I went to high school with Thomas Ice’s son, David. Thomas Ice is the Executive Director of the Pre-Trib Research Center (now based in Virginia). Needless to say, there was no thinking outside the box by David. Any differing opinions automatically shot down. At the time I was pre-trib (and read the LB books), but I at least liked to hear others out.

Thomas Ice is a very nice guy who has his thoughts lined up nicely. Just at the time when his son and I were in high school, David (who is a year or two younger than me) couldn’t think anything else. Perhaps now he’s changed. I may have to get in touch with him now that I think about it. He is one of my facebook friends.

Whenever people have brought the series up to me it has always been in the context of their arguing against pre-mil., pre-trib. dispensationalism. Obviously the books are not meant to serve as scholarly arguments in favor of this position so when people judge them on that level it’s unfair. But I wonder, how do they rate as works of fiction? Are they at least fun to read?

Yes. They are incredibly fun to read (at least once). I’d say they are beginning to be dated, but that’s bound to happen with anything that started almost fifteen years ago. They are good reads though. Never read the kids books and I didn’t read the last one or the prequels (and the couple movies they made were stupid), but Left Behind through Glorious Appearing were cool on a fiction level.

Nick, I thought they were only ok. I read the first one and then the second one, started the third one and didn’t read anymore. I thought there was too much repetition in them. Even liking sci-fi, I couldn’t get into them. BUT at one time we had a dozen copies of each in the Media Center and I still had waiting lists. They were enjoyed by many the first go round and then they’d lay dormat and start being checked out again. Not all, I weeded them down to a couple of copies of each book.

I do know part of my dislike of them is that at least once a month, someone would donate an entire set of the books to the media center. I put the first couple of sets on the sales rack, but no one would buy them. Then I had to cart them off to good will.